A Moment of Magic

Sometimes you just have to stop whatever you're doing and make art. It is that simple. 

Which is exactly what I did, right in the middle of the hectic holiday goings-on. 

I made a few teensy books to stack inside a 4 cm Tall Glass Dome with Wood Base from Alpha Stamps because, why not? 

There's a bit of Dried German Statice, a metal jar, a spoon, a micro cabinet card, and a cup of hot cocoa all tucked under the glass dome with room to spare. Little snippets of paper are stuck in the books and shimmery stars are scattered around. Forgetting about the list of things to do and focusing on being creative was exactly what I needed to rejuvenate myself. There's something about miniature book making that is very rewarding. (Especially when you have oodles of collage sheets with loads of book covers to choose from!)

Ah. Tiny things are magical. Don't you agree?

Don't forget to create your own magic every day.

Supply List can be found HERE!

Anything From the Trolley, Dears?

I participated in a Harry Potter Holidays Swap over on Craftster and after rummaging through my stash, I came across an ancient tea cart kit that screamed Honeydukes Trolley. Researching the different kinds of sweets that were going to go on the cart lead me to an amazing Honeydukes Trolley on 19th Day Miniatures. The artist, Tara, had used the very same tea cart I had, and because I wasn't capable of envisioning a better version, I chose to replicate her paint job for my cart. I love those colors!

Most of the candies are made from polymer clay, like the chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, swirly lollipops, fizzing whizbees, chocolate wands, gummy snakes, Bertie Bott's beans, sherbet lemon drops, licorice wands, and white chocolate owls. The heart shaped and pink swirled candies were cut from pre-made polymer clay canes, and the sugar quills and Drooble's gum are plastic beads. All of the jars, bottles, and pots are from Alpha Stamps, and you can find the tea cart there, too! 

Look at the doofy chocolate frogs! They must have had a newly employed wizard at the chocolate factory the day those were made! However, it looks much better than my attempt at hand sculpting one, which turned out looking more like a rabbit pellet with eyeballs. I used some EasyMold Silicone Putty and a Lego toad to make a mold, and was satisfied (mostly) with the results. The white chocolate owls were made the same way, and I liked how they came out much better.

Hope your holidays are magical!

Cat Houses and Hagrid's Hut

Weird title, I know, but that's what I have been up to creatively. Alpha Stamps is hosting a Mad, Mad, Mad House Swap where you decorate five chipboard houses and get five in return! All of the info can be found here, and I'll post the houses I receive from others sometime in March. So on to the houses!

Those chipboard houses are the cutest things, and they're really sturdy, too. I found the kitten stickers at AC Moore for $1. What a score! The rest of the stuff came from Alpha Stamps, including all of those awesome collage images.

The other thing I completed went to a dear friend on Craftster, for a swap called IYP 28 Winter Wing Ding. While getting ideas, I ran across this image of Hagrid's Hut:

original image property of Stuart Craig

and knew right away that I wanted to free-motion embroider the drawing. It has that sketchy look that I love, and I try to emulate that when I hand embroider things. But this image seemed like a good candidate for another go at free-motion embroidery, my second attempt, and I thought it could always be pitched if I screwed it up and then just hand embroider the thing. From having done it once before, I decided to order a darning foot for the sewing machine and save myself a lot of fidgety hassle. Man, that made a HUGE difference! And I didn't sew over my fingers. Yay. The finished piece fits into an 8x10 frame (I sent that, too. Who wants an unfinished project?) and stole this first picture from the recipient.

photo courtesy of tapestrymlp

this one's mine. can't you tell?

Lessons learned-

1. Breaking down and spending that whopping $9 on the darning foot made free-motion embroidery so much easier. Who would've thought?

2. Sewing shadows is hard. 

Now for the best part of this post. Look what I got in return!!!! My partner hand painted a scene from "The Three Brother's Tale" where Death is presenting the Elder Wand to the first brother. It is truly a work of art. Thank you, tapestry!